Snapper Mower dying after 2-3 minutes of run time?

[sprovencio]

Hello! First post here so sorry if this has been discussed before, but my Kawasaki FC150V-ES11 on a Snapper CP21500KWV is about 20 years old and I am trying to revive it. I finally got around to replacing the carburetor, spark plug, air filter, fuel lines, throttle cable and engine oil but it is having the same issues I had years ago which is why I ended up buying a new one. It will start after a couple pulls and then fire up really nicely. I can get about 4 passes done on my lawn (anywhere from 1-4 minutes) before it just completely dies out. I'll let the mower rest for about another 5-10 minutes and it'll start back up perfectly fine, only to do the same thing a couple minutes later. Now I have done some research into the causes behind this, and everyone says its the fuel cap. So I cleaned up the vent port, and even performed the fuel test (drain the tank with the cap on to see if the vent isn't letting fuel down the line as suction pressure builds) and it'll empty the entire tank everytime. The only thing I've been holding out on is buying a new fuel cap, but with it having no issues and even suffering from the same issues with the fuel cap off the tank, I'm leaning towards the conclusion its not as simple as getting a new cap. I'm kind of scratching my head and wondering if this issue is more of an internal component issue that would be more extensive of a repair. Just wondering if anyone had any issues with this and could provide some direction. Thanks for any help!

 

[slomo]

You said new carb. Was it the OEM Kawasaki or Ebay Chinese?

Wondering if the dead man lever is borderline on the mark of grounding out the coil? Say you bounce around the yard and the dead man lever stretches just enough to kill the engine?? Start the engine. Slowly release the dead man lever on the handlebar till it kills the engine. See how far you have to release the lever till the engine dies. You should have an easy inch or two until the engine sputters and dies, away from the bar. If you have say two inches of cable travel until sputtering then check for the single kill wire grounding out some other place. The Harley motorbike guys have those spark plug wires that blink when the coil fires. Might be good for you on a cloudy day. There are other visual spark testers out there like this. See if it runs say sitting on your patio for 30 minutes straight.

I have a similar mower. It's a series 1 with this same Kawasaki FC150V engine. I can't remember if when I got it, didn't have a throttle cable?? Anyway I just ground a wire connected to the carb area to kill mine. Ghetto stile for sure LOL. Guess I need to hook it up proper. Great another project LOL.

When you remove the top starter/blower cover, clean out all the dirt, grass and oil on the block cooling fins. Check the gap on the ignition coil. Simple business card will set the gap. Some junk mail will also.

I'm sure you got the fuel valve full open. There is a filter inside the fuel tank. You stated you have good fuel flow from the tank. Just typing out loud here. Air filter clean? Valves adjusted proper spec? Plug in good shape with visible strong spark?

slomo

 

[slomo]

Here's some goodies for you. You can download all of them to your computer.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/156480/Snapper-C21400r2.html#product-CP21500KWV

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/156484/Snapper-C21500kwv-Cp21500kwv.html

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1155876/Kawasaki-Fc150v.html

This is from Kawasaki. Has your troubleshooting guide, spec sheet, service data and owners manuals you can download. Look for the gray bars below.

https://www.kawasaki-engines.eu/en/...FC&f_model=FC150V&f_specification=FC150V-AA53


slomo

 

[slomo]

That fuel cap "trick" is for some Briggs engines I think. Never heard about it on a Kawi. Sounds like the fuel is percolating. Like back in the old car engine days where the fuel lines got hot and stuff. Some vehicles were hard starters in the summer because of this after the engine was ran. Your issue is different though. Your mower fuel line just hangs down in free air mostly. Sounds like the ignition coil is getting hot??? Once the internal wire heats up causing excessive resistance??

Go to page 33 of the workshop engine manual. Has all about the ignition system on that little guy. There's a few tests to run with a multi-meter and a couple cold beers.

Go back to the basics. Air, fuel, spark and compression. Let us know what you find. More than glad to help.

slomo

 

[Scrubcadet10]

Could be the coil failing after it heats up, Get an inline spark tester and fit it inline and start the mower, when it dies, pull the engine over and look for spark.

 

[slomo]

Engine has a control unit and a coil. Testing procedures again start on page 33 of the FC150V workshop manual. Good luck and let us know.



slomo

 

[sprovencio]

Hey guys! First off THANKS A TON. Carb is chinese, becasue I didn't want to invest $130 if it wasn't going to work out. SLOMO, the mower dies out whether I am mowing or just leave it running on flat ground. Doesn't seem to behave differently at all. The ground cable was severed when I began taking a look at it, so I re-attached it with a simple wire splice fitting. As for the coil, I never moved it when I was cleaning out the entire engine so the spacing should be stock, but I can check for re-allignment if needed. Sounds like I might need to test the viability of the coil as it is running, with an inline spark tester. Only other thing I haven't done that you mentioned was any valve adjustments. I'll flip through those manuals tomorrow and see if I can't mess around with the volt meter to determine any abnormalities with the coil. Thanks again.

 

[slomo]

Kawi parts are high but worth it. Back in the day you could of bought a 4 barrel Holley for the price of a Kawi push mower carb today.

Check out the page above I added for your coil and control unit.

slomo

 

[sprovencio]

Just finished testing resistance with my multimeter on the ignition coil and here were the values I consistently got:

referring to the image SLOMO posted, the control unit kept giving a value of 7.89 k no matter which lead was where, as for the ignition coil
Primary Coil - 1.5K
Secondary Coil - 13.03K

I’m not trying to jump to conclusions but it appears the coil has too much resistance. Not sure why it’ll start but then fail after 2 minutes if the resistance is that high the entire time. Should I consider getting an in-line spark tester or has this determined that the coil is in fact bad?

 

[slomo]

Just finished testing resistance with my multimeter on the ignition coil and here were the values I consistently got:

referring to the image SLOMO posted, the control unit kept giving a value of 7.89 k no matter which lead was where, as for the ignition coil
Primary Coil - 1.5K
Secondary Coil - 13.03K

I’m not trying to jump to conclusions but it appears the coil has too much resistance. Not sure why it’ll start but then fail after 2 minutes if the resistance is that high the entire time. Should I consider getting an in-line spark tester or has this determined that the coil is in fact bad?

Make sure when you test the control unit, you pay attention to what polarity probe you are using on what terminal. See the meter + and -? But you said didn't matter which way the leads were so you are good on that.

So from your results, get out the credit card. Time for a new control unit and coil. 1500 Ohms on the coil primary side is way high. Your secondary side is high but should work alone if the primary side was in spec. Double check your self again before buying the parts. Just saying, we are all human. Man those results are foul. Also remove BOTH parts from the mower. Just to make sure they are not in any circuit what so ever. Bench test both units again.

slomo